ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some important dispositions and actions that must be considered in order to create schools that are inclusive, equitable, excellent, and socially just. It explores the importance of a critical theory of leadership that includes both critique and promise in order to implement and sustain transformation. The chapter analyzes vignettes in terms of identifying and critiquing the challenges and problems facing transformative leaders and thinking about promising ways forward. Transformative leadership differs from many other leadership theories, including many iterations of leadership for social justice or culturally relevant or responsive leadership, in that it goes beyond trying to ensure a socially just education for all students, to critique, deconstruct, and work to transform structural and societal inequities and disparities. Transformative leadership is a way of embracing all students, encouraging them to know and to be proud of their identities.
